Additional Links

Picket against Social Security cuts planned for today

By MIKE GELLATLY

Many government employees are planning to picket the Social Security Administration offices in Aiken today, protesting proposed cuts in the social program.

The American Federation of Government Employees and Social Security workers have planned what they call an information picket at 151 Corporate Parkway in Aiken between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The AFGE and Social Security workers said in a press release Tuesday that they “are deeply worried that the proposed Fical Year 2013 federal budget for the SSA would have a devastating impact on the services provided to seniors, the disabled and the families who have lost a parent or spouse.”

As negotiations on the FY 2013 budget continue in order to avoid the looming “fiscal cliff,” the SSA is concerned at the amount that will be taken from their funding.

“Social Security does not account for the current deficit problem,” AFGE said. “In fact, Social Security neither increases nor reduces the federal deficit since the program is entirely self-financed.”

The group claims that sequestration could cut $600 million and Sen. Paul Ryan’s budget or the Simpson/Bowels recommendation would cut $1 billion.

Protests like this are going on around the country, and thousands of SSA workers will be protesting.

Related Stories

Comments

Notice about comments:

Aiken Standard is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point.

We do not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click the X that appears in the upper right corner when you hover over a comment. This will send the comment to Facebook for review. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Read our full terms and conditions.